UK DVD player problem

Greetings one and all,

From the "no good deed goes unpunished" file comes this problem for
which I'm desperate to find a solution. If there are any British DVD
or Audio-Videophiles on this group, I'd be eternally grateful if I
could pick your brain either here on Usenet or by private e-mail or
maybe phone.

I'll start off by saying that although I'm from North America, this is
a problem with a DVD player and video in the UK exclusively....this is
not a multi-region issue!

As a "thank you" to relatives for letting me use their London flat for
a few weeks I decided to buy them a DVD player and a few movies. These
folks are not hackers, anime fans, etc, and will only play a few
art-house films that they might find in their local Blockbuster shop
in the High Street. In other words, just a plain-jane, region 2
machine with as few frills as possible.

I settled on a nice Pioneer DV-370-K unit from one of the less-scummy
shops in Tottenham Court Road, hooked it up to the televsion and
immediately felt my heart sink when I put in my first movie.

Somehow there's a Macrovision problem. It's not the disk because I
tried another movie with the same results -- image brightness
fluctuates in the tell-tale Macrovision manner. I bought the DVDs
through Amazon.co.uk, brand new, so they're not likely to be defective
or pirated. To my knowledge, the DVD player is a standard Region 2
machine and is capable of both PAL and NTSC playback.

What I think may be partly at issue is the television through which
they're being played. It was made by Sharp (Model VT-2118M) 10 years
ago, and it's one of these "works everywhere" things that reads PAL,
SECAM, NTSC and has 4 different audio carrier points in the video
signal. Is it possible that the circuitry in this machine is incapable
of correctly interpreting the Macrovision scheme? Is there a
work-around?

It seems to receive normal TV just fine, and its built-in VHS deck
works well also. There is one composite video-in jack and one monaural
audio-in jack through which the DVD player is now connected.

With the exception of the Macrovision type problems, it otherwise
functions perfectly well.

The owners of the flat are coming back next week and I really need to
get this resolved. They're not tech-savvy whatsoever and frankly
they'll likely try it once, and if it keeps doing what it's doing now,
they'll just take it off-line and never try to make it work. Since
I'll be back 3500 miles away, support won't really be an option.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers, |The Third Edition of my book
Peter Dougherty |"Tracks of the New York City Subway"
|is now available and shipping. Please visit
Amateur Radio: W2IRT |http://www.nyctrackbook.com

NOTE: If e-mailing, please reply only to pjd at panix dot com.

On 17 Aug 2004 19:19:15 -0500, Peter Dougherty
typed

It seems to receive normal TV just fine, and its built-in VHS deck
works well also. There is one composite video-in jack and one monaural
audio-in jack through which the DVD player is now connected.

Okay, if you are feeding the signal in as composite video, it's going
through the VCR part of the system, and the VCR stuff is reacting to
the MacroVision.

See if you can get an RF modulator (similar to the ones used with
video games) and feed the signal in to the normal antenna/cable/RF in
connection...
--
================================================== ===========
"They put manure in his well and they made him talk to lawyers!"
-- Cat Ballou
mike weber
Book Reviews & More -- http://electronictiger.com

"Peter Dougherty" wrote in message

I'll start off by saying that although I'm from North America, this is
a problem with a DVD player and video in the UK exclusively....this is
not a multi-region issue!

I think I know what your problem is. On an English CD, when they say 'dust
bin', they mean 'garbage can', 'trousers are 'pants', 'arse' is 'ass',
'bloke' is 'fellow' and 'fanny' isn't said in polite company.

Karl Johanson

Sicne its a combo tv/VHS, the problem is most likely the tv. The a/v inputs
are probably tied directly to the VHS recorder, and macrovision is almost
always a problem in this situation. You have two options:
1. BUy a macrovision remover
2. Buy an RF modulator, and connect the dvd player through it to the aerial
conection on the tv.


"Peter Dougherty" wrote in message
...
Greetings one and all,

From the "no good deed goes unpunished" file comes this problem for
which I'm desperate to find a solution. If there are any British DVD
or Audio-Videophiles on this group, I'd be eternally grateful if I
could pick your brain either here on Usenet or by private e-mail or
maybe phone.

I'll start off by saying that although I'm from North America, this is
a problem with a DVD player and video in the UK exclusively....this is
not a multi-region issue!

As a "thank you" to relatives for letting me use their London flat for
a few weeks I decided to buy them a DVD player and a few movies. These
folks are not hackers, anime fans, etc, and will only play a few
art-house films that they might find in their local Blockbuster shop
in the High Street. In other words, just a plain-jane, region 2
machine with as few frills as possible.

I settled on a nice Pioneer DV-370-K unit from one of the less-scummy
shops in Tottenham Court Road, hooked it up to the televsion and
immediately felt my heart sink when I put in my first movie.

Somehow there's a Macrovision problem. It's not the disk because I
tried another movie with the same results -- image brightness
fluctuates in the tell-tale Macrovision manner. I bought the DVDs
through Amazon.co.uk, brand new, so they're not likely to be defective
or pirated. To my knowledge, the DVD player is a standard Region 2
machine and is capable of both PAL and NTSC playback.

What I think may be partly at issue is the television through which
they're being played. It was made by Sharp (Model VT-2118M) 10 years
ago, and it's one of these "works everywhere" things that reads PAL,
SECAM, NTSC and has 4 different audio carrier points in the video
signal. Is it possible that the circuitry in this machine is incapable
of correctly interpreting the Macrovision scheme? Is there a
work-around?

It seems to receive normal TV just fine, and its built-in VHS deck
works well also. There is one composite video-in jack and one monaural
audio-in jack through which the DVD player is now connected.

With the exception of the Macrovision type problems, it otherwise
functions perfectly well.

The owners of the flat are coming back next week and I really need to
get this resolved. They're not tech-savvy whatsoever and frankly
they'll likely try it once, and if it keeps doing what it's doing now,
they'll just take it off-line and never try to make it work. Since
I'll be back 3500 miles away, support won't really be an option.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers, |The Third Edition of my book
Peter Dougherty |"Tracks of the New York City Subway"
|is now available and shipping. Please visit
Amateur Radio: W2IRT |http://www.nyctrackbook.com

NOTE: If e-mailing, please reply only to pjd at panix dot com.

Peter Dougherty wrote:

[Macrovision problem with a DVD player and a VCR - tv set combo]
It seems to receive normal TV just fine, and its built-in VHS
deck works well also. There is one composite video-in jack and
one monaural audio-in jack through which the DVD player is now
connected.

Does the tv+vcr combo have a Scart ("Euro AV") socket on
the backside? What about the DVD player, does it have a
Scart socket?

Here is a picture of one for reference:
http://tvtool.info/jpgs/cableguide/scart.jpg.

If both of the devices have a Scart socket, you could try buying
a fully connected Scart lead - such as the one pictured he
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Images/Products/size_3/MXSCART.JPG
- and use it to connect the DVD player and the VCR-TV combo
together, instead of using the RCA connectors.

Why a Scart lead instead of using the RCA connectors? The Scart
lead carries both RGB signal and composite video signal (along
with the left and right audio channels) from the DVD player to
the tv, all within a single cable. The RGB signal should work
regardless of Macrovision: it is normally routed directly to
the CRT, without passing through the AGC chip in the VCR part
of the device.

Of course, the tv set might not have a Scart socket - and
even if it has one, not all of the smaller sets have the
RGB pins connected.

Still, if the Scart connector can be found on the backside
of the tv+vcr combo, it does not hurt to try it.

Scart leads should be readily available on just about any
shop or supermarket which sells consumer AV equipment. Just
make sure you get one which has all the leads connected -
some cheaper Scart cables may not have the RGB pins connected.

* * *

As an additional note: even if

a) both of the devices have a Scart socket,

and even if

b) the TV+VCR combo supports displaying an RGB signal
through its scart socket,

you may still have to

c) specifically tell the DVD player to output RGB signal.
(This is usually done through the setup menus.)

* * *

You can see a pinout and a description of the normal
Scart signals he

http://utopia.knoware.nl/users/epreb...ineering/SCART
..html

There are normally two mutually exclusive output/input
configurations for a Scart connector (often selectable
through the menus of the devices carrying the Scart
sockets):

1. CVBS + RGB + audio
2. S-video + audio

* * *

If there are no Scart sockets available, or if the Scart
cable does not help (in other words, if the tv does not
support RGB signal), it might still be possible to disable
the Macrovision functionality on the DVD player.

However, from quick searching it appears that there is
no publicly known way to easily disable the Macrovision
signal on Pioneer DV-370-K.

If everything else fails, maybe you could take it back
to the shop, tell them about the compatibility problem
and kindly ask if you could return it and get some other
make/model instead. Perhaps they could sell you another
model on which the Macrovision functionality _can_ be
easily disabled.

I do not know about the British consumer laws, but I
would believe there is something in there about protecting
consumers from defective products - and from compatibility
problems which the consumer cannot be reasonably expected
to have known about before trying the device at home.

If you go shopping for a new player, you might want to
take a look at this site which lists Macrovision and
region hacks for common DVD players (these can usually
be done by simply entering a secret code using the
remote): http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.

--
znark

"Biz" wrote in
:

Sicne its a combo tv/VHS, the problem is most likely the tv. The a/v
inputs are probably tied directly to the VHS recorder, and macrovision
is almost always a problem in this situation.

I agree.

You have two options:
1. BUy a macrovision remover
2. Buy an RF modulator, and connect the dvd player through it to the
aerial conection on the tv.

A possible third solution, perhaps easier to source in a standard high-
street store, and giving more bang-per-buck.

Many Freeview[1] set-top boxes have two SCART sockets on the back, as
well as an aerial connection - one is for connection to TV [2], and the
other will be marked either VCR or AUX (or similar).

*Some* boxes have this second socket wired as both an input and output
socket, enabling you to use the Freeview box as an RF modulator - plug
the DVD into the VCR/AUX SCART, and connect the set-top box to the TV via
the aerial. But you also get Freeview as well.

Note that I don't know if all 2-SCART boxes will do this. My own box
works this way - with the DVD turned off, you can watch Freeview - turn
the DVD on, and the Freeview picture is replaced with the input from the
VCR/AUX Scart. Mine is an *old* Nokia, but a quick google suggests that
newer Nokia Freeview boxes (with 2 SCARTS) should also be ok - but you
should be able to check by asking the sales people for a look at the
manual before buying.

I had to resort to this because my DVD player would play Region 1 DVDs
are PAL60, which my old TV set couldn't cope with. This trick worked like
a treat.

[1] (For our US friends) Freeview is digital TV transmitted via a
conventional (not satellite) signal, received via an aerial and set-top
box. It gives a small selection of additional programs, but nowhere near
as much as cable or satellite.

[2] Which we will ignore, as we don't want to go through the TV a/v
socket.

--
Chris
Minstrel's Hall of Filk - http://www.filklore.com/
Filklore Music Store - http://www.filklore.co.uk/
To contact me, please use form at http://www.filklore.com/contact.phtml

In article ,
Peter Dougherty wrote:
or pirated. To my knowledge, the DVD player is a standard Region 2
machine and is capable of both PAL and NTSC playback.

What I think may be partly at issue is the television through which
they're being played. It was made by Sharp (Model VT-2118M) 10 years
ago, and it's one of these "works everywhere" things that reads PAL,
SECAM, NTSC and has 4 different audio carrier points in the video

Any chance that the DVD player is set to emit a pseudo-NTSC signal and
that the TV is reading it badly?

I've never dealt intimately with UK TVs, but I've read about such
things happening (usually in the context of VCRs, though).

Mark Geary

--
"It's going to be a tough one Sam...Ziggy hasn't got a clue and the
guy in the waiting room keeps asking me if I want a jelly baby."